On the Tata Bolt Hatchback

This is a discussion on On the Tata Bolt Hatchback within The Indian Car Scene, part of the BHP India category; It looks like Tata have taken a leaf out of JV partner Fiat's book by providing excellent ground clearance. Additional ...

It looks like Tata have taken a leaf out of JV partner Fiat's book by providing excellent ground clearance. Additional GC is always welcome on our roads.

Sadly, they seem to have reserved the LED DRLs for the Zest, and even the top variant of the Bolt doesn't seem to get this useful feature. It is present on the Bolt's rivals, such as the i20 and the upcoming Swift facelift, and possibly on the Polo facelift too.

Tata must market the duo well, and ensure there are absolutely no niggles or issues even in the first batch of cars. The discontinuation of the Vista and Manza seems likely, but one can never be too sure, given Tata's track record till now.

Sadly, they seem to have reserved the LED DRLs for the Zest, and even the top variant of the Bolt doesn't seem to get this useful feature.

IMO, DRLs are required only in some European countries where the day light is less and say by 3:00 pm the Sun sets and visibility is poor, not to mention snow and rain. Most places in India have sufficient sunlight and do not Warrant DRLs.

Even is some hilly regions, where one DRLs might come handy, the average joe uses full high beams . Most people in India dont know the use of DRLs or rather not even heard of DRL concept

They are purely a cosmetic feature only. I would still buy a Zest/Bolt if it has some other features but miss out on DRLs

IMO, DRLs are required only in some European countries where the day light is less and say by 3:00 pm the Sun sets and visibility is poor, not to mention snow and rain. Most places in India have sufficient sunlight and do not Warrant DRLs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

They are purely a cosmetic feature only.

This is debatable, and the debate will never end. Both sides of the story are present on the excellent thread on DRLs, so I'll not go into it here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

Most people in India dont know the use of DRLs or rather not even heard of DRL concept.

It's a pity, considering the usefulness of such a feature. But then again, it was the same about things like airbags and ABS (and perhaps, still is). Awareness will increase, but I think it will take some time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

I would still buy a Zest/Bolt if it has some other features but miss out on DRLs.

I completely agree with this. Though factory-fitted LED DRLs look way better, the lack of them is not a deal breaker. If one wants the utility of DRLs, then one can easily install a very high quality pair from Philips, Osram etc. for less than ten thousand rupees, and there are plenty of cheaper Chinese ones that function pretty well too.

What is a bit sad about this (IMHO), is that Tata are still missing a trick or two here. When they are down so badly in terms of sales and customer perception about their products (whether real or imagined), they need to come out with all guns blazing and boldly tell the public (and prove it eventually, of course) that their products are as good as the competition in every aspect, if not better. When most of the competition in its segment will soon feature factory-fitted LED DRLs, the Bolt will be at a slight disadvantage if it does not have them (if indeed the test mules pictured here correspond to the production variants).

It's in areas like these, that I feel Tata would seriously miss the presence of a "car-guy", like the late Karl Slym. Just when they seemed to have got the right guy at the top and were working to plans put in place by him, tragedy struck and the cruel hand of fate took him away from us (and Tata Motors).

I hope they do not lose the directional change and momentum they gained under him, by slipping back to their old, established culture of lethargy and being completely out of tune with the customer and his/her needs and aspirations. It has cost them dearly, and the competition is only getting much more fierce and cut-throat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by M35

Worth looking at the steering wheel design of the upgraded Chery Tiggo 3 which is expected by May 2014 in China.

It does look like it has some similarities with the steering of the Zest/Bolt, plus a bit from some Renaults. I wonder if Chery and Tata utilized the efforts of the same design centres (owned by Tata)?

Chery seem to have come a long way indeed. They can no longer be dismissed as the company whose culture was to make blatant and cheap copies of cars like the Daewoo Matiz.

Quote:

Originally Posted by M35

Chery Fulwin 2 hatch:

This (especially in this shade of red) seems like it shares a few design elements with the Bolt!

Looking good to me at least. I actually quite liked the alloy wheel the test car having. Hope they will keep it in the production car. Much better than blackish alloy wheels which Tata Vista has before. Good work done Tata

Looking good to me at least. I actually quite liked the alloy wheel the test car having. Hope they will keep it in the production car. Much better than blackish alloy wheels which Tata Vista has before. Good work done Tata

The side profile of the headlights is looking very nice and upmarket.

It would be really interesting to see the teambhp review on the zest and bolt.
I hope it comes soon .
Still no confirm news on the date of launch ?

Looking good to me at least. I actually quite liked the alloy wheel the test car having. Hope they will keep it in the production car. Much better than blackish alloy wheels which Tata Vista has before. Good work done Tata

IMO they should be testing the Bolt & Zest without any cameoflage as they have already displayed these to public at the Auto Expo 2014. This would be free advertisement for these products as curious public would follow up with the dealers & look to prebook the cars.

Cameoflages give an impression of unfinished product to the public, I feel.

Guy's let them keep the camouflage until the launch date is confirmed, at least by this the curiosity will continue to be.
Also if the product is on road without camouflage prospective customers will loose interest as well as looks will loose freshness before launch.

O.H M.Y. G.O.D. Pardon the capitals but the ZEST looks AMAZING. From the Alloys to the front lip of the bumper to the DRL's. Everything has been put together so well, it makes the current Dzire in comparision look fugly. If this is a handler, I guess I am putting my money down on this.

The cars are looking cool, especially Zest. It's really great on part of Tata for having given a fresh look for the face in spite of using the same old face of Vista.
The bolt still looks like Vista from the angle shown in the pic though.